About two years ago I wrote in this space and reminded one cabinet minister who had lied in parliament that there is no pride in lies. In fact I had written in the vernacular so that the message could sink deep in his head. I had informed the minister that “maaka ga se bokwete”. Ulala! You should have seen the bullets that I had attracted my way. The permanent secretary under this minister came out with guns blazing. What was interesting about the ministry’s rebuttal, or should I say rebuke, was that they seemed to be more concerned with the fact that I had mentioned that the minister had lied and didn’t really put more focus on countering the purported lies with their truth.
They didn’t offer a version to the story that would have made my accusations incorrect. In their view, even if the minister had lied, it was wrong of me to have said it. They wrote a novel to tell the nation how ill-mannered I was to have said the minister is a liar. They said I was lacking in botho. They said since I was younger than the minister age-wise, I had no moral authority to label him a liar because our society does not condone children who see the wrongs that are made by elders. What they failed to advise me on was, the correct label I should have used instead of using the word liar. They didn’t tell me how a younger person needs to point out the lies that come out of an elder’s mouth. I arrived back in Gaborone this past Sunday from a jolly weekend in Khawa, where by the way, I had joined my president, Ian Khama, to play with sand and quad bikes. On arrival in the city I bought newspapers to catch up with what the city slickers had been up to.
There was of course the Sebina scandal, exposing how a BDP councillor has unashamedly unzipped his trousers and, without protection, inserted his aged member into a school-going girl and made her pregnant. Le go swaba a sa swabe! There was however one article, a press release from the BDP, that caught my attention. And no, the BDP was not condemning their councillor for being sexually aroused by school girls. They were rebuking BNF councillor Arafat Khan for speaking the truth during the launch of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) manifesto launch in South Africa. Khan was the guest at the EFF event where he was given an opportunity to address the masses that thronged the Orlando stadium to receive the party manifesto from their leader Julius Malema. In his address, Khan had liked President Jacob Zuma private residence, Nkandla, to that of President Ian Khama, Mosu. He had said both presidents are equally corrupt. The BDP has a problem with Khan’s utterances because as far as they are concerned, unlike Zuma who has been subjected to investigations and corruption charges, Khama has not been through the same hell. Fair enough. However, I find it interesting that the BDP view Khan’s comments as “his creative fiction about President Khama” only on the basis Khama has not been investigated. I would have found it proper for the BDP to view Khan as a hallucinatory if they were telling us that Khama has been investigated and no wrong-doing was found on his part. How do label Khama ‘’clean’ when no attempt has been made by corruption busting organisations to clear his name, despite accusations that have been made against him in regard to Mosu?
The DCEC has never come out to say they have investigated Khama and found nothing wrong with Mosu. Khama’s office is the one which issued a statement to tell us he has not done anything wrong. Did we expect them to say anything to the contrary? No we didn’t and that is because we have well-functioning brains. Khan had also mentioned that the only difference between Zuma and Khama is that the former has several wives while the latter is not known to have any ties with any woman.
Everyone knows Zuma has an insatiable appetite for women and that is why he couldn’t stick to just one. He has married several women and has even told the whole world how he enjoyed unprotected sex with the knowledge a shower after the marathon would keep HIV/AIDS at bay. On the other hand, the world knows that President Khama is a bachelor and has gone on record to say he does not want to marry a woman because women are troublesome and that having a woman in the State House will hamper his performance as president. He is not married as we speak and as far as we all know. Now what is criminal in saying he has no wife?
Because the BDP knows Khan is telling the truth, they resorted to their tried and tested shield, botho. The BDP Secretary General writes, “By alluding to His Excellency’ marital status of bachelor, we are appalled by this lack of respect from an individual much younger and junior that President Khama”. It appears this is template that is used every time a younger person says some truthful about an elder. So botho doesn’t allow a younger person to talk about an elder’s marital status? Haibo madoda. Kana it means it is not only Khan who has no botho. I mean, I want to believe President Khama has filled-in forms when he was applying for documents such as Identity Card, passport, bank accounts and the younger people who were assisting him definitely made him fill in the space where he was asked about his marital status and he must have written “single”.
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